80-Acre: The Best Beer Of Summer

Hey! It’s Friday afternoon, and it’s hotter than hell here in south Louisiana, and I’m drinking the 80-Acre Hoppy Wheat beer from Boulevard brewery in Kansas City. You can’t get it in Louisiana, but my wife was in Texas recently, and she brought me back some. To me, it’s the perfect summer beer. It’s light and crisp, but also perfectly bitter, from the hops, which give it personality. I like beer, but I don’t drink a lot of it. I could drink this all day. It’s that good — and Boulevard’s Single-Wide IPA is equally delicious. (The Westmalle glass I brought back from Amsterdam; it’s the best glass imaginable from which to drink beer).

Blessed are they who can go down to the store in their city and buy beers from Boulevard!

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34 Responses to 80-Acre: The Best Beer Of Summer

Just got through kegging my favorite summer brew a couple of hours ago. We don’t have a name for it (up for suggestions), but it involves 10 lbs of American two-row pale, 1 lb of crystal 40L, two oz total of Centennial and three oz total of Cascade hops. One oz of the Cascades are dry hopped and the majority is used for aroma rather than bittering. The recipe is our play on what we like about a delightful local brew, Sheltowee Hop-a-Lot, only tweaked even more to our tastes.

It’s great for the summer since it isn’t too terribly dark or heavy for the style. The scent of the beer just explodes when you drink it out on the front porch on a hot day.

Hi Rod! Currently enjoying a great local New Mexico brew, Rio Grande Brewing Co.’s Pancho Verde Chile Cerveza, made with local New Mexico green chiles. Yes, New Mexicans put chile in EVERYTHING! Great compliment to today’s thunderstorms, which hopefully will bring welcome relief to those battling wildfires in the mountains outside of Santa Fe.

We are visiting Baton Rouge tonight and tomorrow, for my husband’s 20-year high school reunion at Baton Rouge High! We have also been visiting family in Texas, and enjoying the beers from Saint Arnold brewery in Houston. We can’t get that where we live in Albuquerque. Had some good Cajun food and boiled crawfish last night too!

Penn Weizen. It is a phenomenally good wheat beer, and it’s brewed right here in the Burgh. No need to have beer shipped in from Kansas when it is brewed so well right here. And it is brewed well – it has the same level of critical acclaim as 80 acre, and it’s made by brewers who focus on technical perfection as opposed to pushing the envelope (so many brewers focus on wacky creativity or huge levels of hops; these guys don’t. In wine terms, they make Syrah and not Shiraz).

Cape Cod Red, brewed by Cape Cod Beer is a favorite — available in growlers, and on draft at good restaurants….and their IPA is a fav, too.

Reds in Dallas are different though — and strangely different.

I like the different style glasses–Belgians especially take them seriously, and they are created specifically for the individual types of brands. Though you can’t beat the standard pint glass from England….

Here in Michigan, Bell’s Oberon is the unofficial beer of summer, but this year I’ve been enjoying White Hatter from New Holland Brewing Co. (just a mile from my house). It’s a Belgian-style White IPA—sweet and spiced like a Belgian white, but with a kick of hops—and I think it’s one of the better summer brews to come out of W. Michigan recently.

Leinenkugel’s lemon berry shandy and summer shandy go down effortlessly. Excellent grill-side companions. Or canoeing down one of Florida’s spring rivers, while keeping a low profile past the county sheriff on his jet ski…or so I have been told

Last summer, I was drinking New Belgium’s Shift Pale Lager like a madman. It’s a light, easy drinking brew, with just enough hoppiness to keep a beer geek’s interest.

This summer, our local micro-king St. Louis Brewery offered up it’s 4.5 abv Schlafly Can Sessions IPA. I crown Tom Shlafly’s canned IPA the king of summer brews. Like Shift, it’s light and easy drinking, but it’s hoppy flavor profile is far more delicious than that of the former. New canning technology makes aluminum a superior vessel to the glass bottle, and the twelve ounce can provides a lovely sense of nostalgia, evoking grandpa tending the grill, sipping cans of Budweiser or Stag.

As an aside, Tom Schlafly is the liberal-lawyer cousin of Phyllis Schlafly.

Roller Dam Red Ale – brewed in the Quad Cities and named after the world’s largest roller dam, this treat has that rich caramel flavor while still being “light” enough for summer…..best dam beer you’ve ever had! Rod, you have to try one the next time you’re in Iowa

Glad to see MikeH praising Schlafly. I’m partial to their seasonal American IPA at this time myself, although I’m drinking their Pilsner right now due to its having been on sale and my impecuniousness. Not bad, but not as good as the AIPA.

Also, New Belgium’s Ranger IPA is a delicious mouthful of grapefruit. Yum.

My wife and I like Barley’s Blooodythirst Wheat from Columbus, Ohio. Standard citrus wheat beer but with blood oranges. Unfourtunately, they don’t bottle it but its a good excuse to get us off of the porch!

Bell’s Oberon is my favorite. Sadly, we don’t get it here in NE but I can pick it up when I’m in Iowa or Minnesota. New Glarus’s Spotted Cow is another favorite of mine. Only available in Wisconsin, sadly. Whenever we’re in Minnesota visiting family I make a special trip to Wisconsin just for that beer…

Pliny the Elder by Russian River Brewery in San Rafael, CA is great year round, but I find it best during the summer. Unfortunately I can only get it when I go to visit my brother. Currently I am making do with Pisgah Pale Ale from Black Mountain, NC, Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yella Pils when fresh, and will echo the praise of Franziskaner. By the way if you ever make it out to the Russian River Brewery try their Belgian-style sours. The Consecration is particularly tasty.